


Hold me close

by TheSprout



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Bittersweet, Comfort Food, Couch Cuddles, Cozy evening, Domestic Fluff, Don’t copy to another site, M/M, Married Couple, Sleepy Cuddles, Supportive Katsuki Yuuri, True Love, discussion of retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-08 23:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19877947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSprout/pseuds/TheSprout
Summary: Coaching and competing at the same time is not as easy as Victor thought. During a quiet evening at home he shares his thoughts with Yuuri, and Yuuri is there for him.





	Hold me close

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a little fic for the prompt "Come here and take the blanket with you" that was submitted by [Marysanezumi](https://marysanezumi.tumblr.com/) on [Tumblr](https://dontstopyurinow.tumblr.com/post/185346486043/hello-3). 
> 
> This was betaread by [Littledancer8](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDancer8/pseuds/LittleDancer8), thank you very much!
> 
> It's a bit more bittersweet than what I expected, I hope it still matches the prompt and you enjoy it. <3

Yuuri closes the front door with his foot and sighs as he unwraps his scarf from around his neck. It’s Friday night, the week has been excruciatingly long, and he cannot wait to go to bed. The weather in St Petersburg, true to February, is absolutely freezing and Yuuri cannot feel the tips of his fingers when he fumbles with the buttons to open his coat. His whole body hurts from training, his mind is on autopilot. Victor won’t be home for another two hours and, once again, Yuuri will go to bed without him. As much as he loves his husband, he is too tired to wait up for him, and Victor will go straight to bed too when he comes home anyway so it’s not really worth staying up. He will probably open an eye when Victor slides into bed and rolls to spoon with him as he wishes him goodnight.

Still lost in his tired thoughts, Yuuri turns to kick off his shoes on the doormat, but he is interrupted.

“Hey...”

The voice is calm and soft but Yuuri flinches in surprise. Victor is in the living room, in the sweatpants and hoodie he only wears at home. He smiles and Yuuri’s heart melts.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here. I thought you had training till 9?”

Victor’s smile gets wider. “I convinced Yakov to let me leave early.”

Yuuri’s chest swells. He knows that Yakov is not the kind to casually let his students skip practice, especially for no other reason than “I want to go home to see my husband and my dog”, and it means that Victor must have resorted to using all of his charms to be home with him tonight.

Victor walks up to Yuuri and takes him in his arms. Yuuri doesn’t resist for even a second.

“You’re going to have to pay double for it on Monday, right?” he mutters as he wraps himself around Victor.

Victor sighs and nods. Yuuri doesn’t have the heart to blame him. He is glad to see him too. They hug in silence and it lasts far longer than usual. The light is dim and the apartment is warm, in stark contrast with the icy wind outside. It’s still early in the evening but the night is already pitch black. Yuuri’s cheeks and nose are still cold from walking home and it feels wonderful to press his face against Victor’s chest and let his arms tighten around him to warm up. Yuuri suddenly realizes how long it has been since they last shared a quiet evening together.

They live together but it feels like they barely see each other. Yuuri leaves for the gym before Victor wakes up, then they join each other at the rink for Yuuri’s training but Victor is more of a coach than a husband, and Yakov then comes to drag Victor to his own practice session. If Victor is walking Makkachin when Yuuri comes home, or Yuuri is buying groceries when Victor is free, they can spend the whole day without seeing each other. Now they live in the same apartment, but sometimes Yuuri feels like he spends more time with Makkachin than with Victor.

Since the Grand Prix they had the Russian nationals and the Japanese nationals, and then the Europeans for Victor and the Four Continents for Yuuri, and now it’s February and it’s like they have not seen each other in months.

And the training is not like it used to be in Hasetsu. Back then Victor wasn’t tired, he wasn’t stressed, he didn’t have Yakov breathing down his neck telling him what to eat and when to sleep. He didn’t have to worry about his own performance and his own schedule. Yuuri’s heart always tightens when he stops the practice session and tells him: “I’m sorry, I have to go. Work on your step sequence again. I’ll see you tonight, I love you.” Yuuri still loves to have Victor as his coach, but it’s not the same, really. 

Yuuri rubs his nose in Victor’s T-shirt. The familiar scent of Victor’s cologne almost makes him want to sleep right here and now, in Victor’s arms. He blinks and sniffs the air. The living room smells of hot, delicious food and Yuuri’s eyebrows rise. With both of them in the middle of the competitive season, their fridge is full of lean meat that Yuuri is not allowed to deep fry, green vegetables, and the low-fat yogurt approved by Lilia. Yuuri feels like he hasn’t had a meal that tasted decent in ages. Now the apartment smells like butter, spices, herbs, and cream, and he salivates just thinking about it.

“You made dinner?”

Victor gives a short shrug but he blushes slightly. “Yeah. Well, to be completely honest it’s just pasta and sauce-”

“It smells amazing.”

“You have just enough time to shower before it’s ready.”

Yuuri stands under the hot stream and it feels so nice to wash off the sweat of a day of practice and finally feel his body warm up after shivering outside that his skin gets covered in pleasant goosebumps. Between the promise of a nice meal and the evening with his husband, he has not felt this relaxed since he moved to Russia months ago. When he comes out of the bathroom, he slides in the bedroom to get dressed and peeks in the living room.

Victor sees him and smiles. “Come here, and take the blanket with you!”

Yuuri puts on a sweater and wraps himself in their fluffiest blanket. The plates are full and steaming on the coffee table. Two glasses of wine stand beside the plates and Victor is struggling to keep Makkachin away from Yuuri’s meal until he comes to take it.

“I didn’t think this would be approved by my coach,” Yuuri says with a side smile.

“Just every once in a while it’s fine. Please don’t tell Yakov though.”

Yuuri takes his glass of wine and dips his lips into it. “This tastes too expensive.”

Victor takes the glass from his hand and sips a tiny bit of wine. He kisses Yuuri’s lips and they share the same bitter taste of old red wine. “It tastes just fine.”

“You don’t know how much it was, do you?”

Victor shakes his head. “I have no idea.”

They eat and for a moment they are silent, enjoying the meal with just the sound of the cutlery on the plates. Only after a while Yuuri comments on how good it tastes and Victor explains how he convinced Yakov to let him skip late practice, and Yuuri listens and laughs even when it’s not funny. 

Makkachin steals a meatball that Victor accidentally lets fall right in her mouth. By the time their plates are clean, Yuuri has tomato sauce all over his cheeks and his stomach feels so full that he is sure that he could not fit into his skating costume. 

Victor has a satisfied sigh and lies back on the couch. Yuuri shifts to straddle his legs and wrap his arms around his neck. He pecks him on the lips.

“Thanks for coming home early.”

“I wanted to see you.”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

There is a pause and Victor brushes Yuuri’s back gently.

“I knew it’d be complicated if we both competed but… I didn’t know it’d be this tough,” he says quietly.

Yuuri lies against him to hug him. “You’re doing too much.”

To Yuuri’s surprise, Victor nods. He is silent for a few seconds before he looks up at Yuuri. “I don’t think I’ll compete again next year.”

Yuuri looks into his eyes as if they could tell him the right answer. Victor is just as beautiful as ever but the blue of his eyes is not as bright. It is like he is longing for something else now.

“Are you sure?”

Victor nods again. “I miss spending time with you and Makka and frankly… I don’t think my knees can take another fall like I had last week.”

Victor’s voice is low and quiet and Yuuri’s heart tightens. It is quite unusual to hear Victor admit that he has his limits and that he is not invincible. Oh Yuuri would like to tell him that it’s not true. That they will make it work, that he will compete for another ten years and keep winning and nothing will ever change.

But Victor knows. He knows that it will not last forever and that his best performances on the ice are behind him. Yuuri looks up and he knows that Victor is thinking the same thing. And yet his eyes are sad but strangely peaceful. 

“I still love to skate,” Victor adds, “but… It’s not the same anymore. I think I… I was afraid to retire because I didn’t know what I’d do after that. But now… I feel better about it.”

Yuuri gently brushes Victor’s cheek and leans up to kiss him, and it’s like now that they are together they aren’t afraid anymore. They are arriving at the end of their careers but it doesn’t feel like the end anymore. Yuuri presses his lips against Victor’s and it tells all the words that Yuuri wants to say and that Victor needs to hear. I love you. I’m here for you. We’re doing this together no matter what.

They part and Yuuri stays close. He whispers against Victor’s lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Yuuri shifts to lie more comfortably over Victor and pulls the blanket over both of them. It’s funny how their bodies fit perfectly together and Yuuri couldn’t find a better pillow than Victor’s sculpted pectoral, and Victor’s arm is just the right length for his hand to rest naturally on Yuuri’s butt.

“We should move to the bed,” Yuuri mutters when Makkachin climbs over their legs and there isn’t an inch of free space left on the couch.

“I can’t get up, my dog and my husband are lying on me.”

Yuuri doesn’t move an inch. “I ate too much, I can’t move.”

Yuuri grabs the remote control. Victor brushes his fingers through his hair while he goes through the programs absentmindedly. It’s nothing, but Yuuri had not realized how much he missed these moments. 

When he doesn’t find anything worth watching on TV, he looks up. Victor has nodded off on the cushion, his bangs in front of his eyes and his mouth slightly open. His chest rises and falls slowly. It lulls Yuuri and makes him sleepy. It makes Yuuri feel strangely warm to know that he is the only one to see this side of Victor, quieter, sometimes unsure, sometimes vulnerable. A Victor who has grown so much that he is not afraid to step off the ice anymore, and take more time for his life and his love.

Yuuri stretches his arm to turn off the light that’s next to the couch.

No, it really doesn’t feel like the end, Yuuri thinks. If anything, it’s just the beginning. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I post Victuuri drabbles on Tumblr, you can find them [here](https://dontstopyurinow.tumblr.com/tagged/late-night-drabble) if you are interested. 
> 
> <3


End file.
